Deschutes County Commissioner Mike Daly has never had the stomach for the food concessions contract at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center.

He didn’t like it in November when the contract was renewed. And he doesn’t like it now.

Last fall, the fair board initially proposed a 10-year contract extension. Daly protested, and the fair board tamed the lucrative contract back to a more palatable five-year deal. The contract gives a Salem company – Premier Services Group, also known as C & D Event Management – virtually exclusive rights to provide the food and beverages at expo center functions. Daly still didn’t like the way local vendors have been shut out.

In an open letter to his fellow commissioners, Daly recently sharply criticized the concessions contract again. He said he got another in a string of complaints about the quality of the food and service.

The Oregon Chapter of the PEO Sisterhood, which is a group dedicated to increasing education opportunities for women, had a bad food-and-drink experience at the expo center in June. The group’s annual convention was served up cold meals by staff that the group said was rude and poorly trained.

Expo center CEO Dan Despotopulos and Carroll Unruh, president of Premier Services Group, say the poor performance at the PEO Sisterhood event was an outlier. Unruh says he’s working to fix any problems.

If Premier fails to perform, Despotopulos has said he can write it a notice and cancel the contract in 90 days. And if Premier continues to deliver like they did to the PEO Sisterhood, Despotopulos should send the notice.

Deschutes County actually owns the fairgrounds. The county has been contributing about $300,000 a year to keep it operating. But it is the fair board that has the authority to run the fairgrounds. It makes the contract decisions.

When contract renewal time approaches for the concessions, we hope the fair board doesn’t first think renewal. It should seek competitive bids aggressively. Premier may still have an edge because of its experience, but not if it keeps doling out the unappetizing. Count on Daly to keep watch.